Mini Meatloaves with Chipotle Sauce

What on earth is the plural of meatloaf? One of the world’s greatest mysteries in my opinion. Meatloafs? Meatloaves? Or is it one of those words that the plural is the same, like deer? Could be one deer, could be 17 deer. We aren’t sure. I don’t like that. I need more info than that to live my life. Honestly, the word meatloaf in general makes me kind of want to barf. I like meatloaf but the word I just find disgusting. So maybe I should change the title of the recipe? To what? Ground beef/sausage cakes? Also gross. Ugh. Losing this battle.

This is another great make ahead meal that will save you a ton of time in the kitchen. You can mix up the meatloaf (ew) ingredients ahead of time, and store the mix in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

I get a lot of questions about healthy snacking. The answer that nobody wants to hear (including me), is that there are no shortcuts. Most of the “classic” snacks are trash. While there are some quick and acceptable snacks like Quest Bars, handfuls of nuts and fruit, your best bet for a healthy, well balanced snack is to just eat a tiny portion of a meal. AKA leftovers.

Since these meatloaves are made to be small, they are easy grab and go snacks. I like to eat one right before I leave for the gym for a quick protein boost leading into a workout.

Try them!

Mini Meatloaves with Chipotle Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

for the meatloaves

1lb hot Italian sausage

1lb ground beef, preferably 80/20

2 eggs

3/4 cup almond flour

1 large yellow onion, finely diced

6-7 cloves garlic, minced

2T adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo (find in the Mexican ingredients aisle of any grocery store)

for the sauce

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1-2 chipotle peppers from the can used above (depending on what heat level you like)

2T olive oil

Large handful of chopped cilantro

garnishes

Avocado, lime juice, salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Saute the chopped onion and garlic in 1T of fat (olive oil, coconut oil, butter) until the onion is translucent – about 5-6 minutes. Place half of the garlic/onion mixture into your blender, and half into a large mixing bowl.

Add the rest of the meatloaf ingredients to the large mixing bowl, and mix well – honestly, I think hands work best for truly combining the ingredients.

Using a muffin tin (you don’t need liners), scoop small patties of your meatloaf mixture into each tin. The trick here is to not fill them all the way to the top – if you do that, the rendered fat that cooks off will spill over and create a huge mess (happened to a friend, not me).

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

While the meatloaves are baking, place the pint of cherry tomatoes into the sauté pan (no cooking oil necessary) and heat them over medium-high heat. After 5-7 minutes, you’ll notice the tomatoes beginning to blister and split open. This is good. Once that happens, add the tomatoes and the rest of the sauce ingredients to the blender.

Blend.

When the meatloaves are finished, transfer to a plate, add sauce on the top and garnish with avocado, fresh lime juice and salt and pepper!